Into the New World
by 71stknight
Summary: On New Year's Day, Jeremy Hendrickson recieves a suprise from his uncle. But that surprise sends him and his cat into a new world, full of new dangers, new people, and new creatures. Can he possibly hope to get back home or will he perish in the attempt?
1. Chapter 1

**Jeremy's POV**

You have never known humiliation until you've seen your aunt and uncle square-dancing to Peanut Butter Jelly Time. If this is what it looks like to grow up, then I'm GLAD I'm only 15.

It's a New Year's Eve party, and I'm sitting on the top of the staircase waiting on my uncle Derick to arrive. He promised me a surprise. I have no idea what it could be, but knowing my uncle, he probably has something… interesting… to give me.

My uncle's a pretty weird dude. He's interested in rare plants. Last year, uncle Derick spent two years looking for a plant called a Nirnroot. I've never heard anything like it before. The way he described it was weird too. Uncle Derick described it as a plant with four blue-green leaves and visible roots. Also, he mentioned that it is commonly found by a body of water. Let me tell you, I've been to the Mississippi River, Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, the Gulf of Mexico, the Cape Fear River, AND the Atlantic Ocean and I've never even seen this so-called Nirnroot. That must explain why it's so rare.

Uncle Derick just arrived, and, like always, my mud-brown cat Reilly dashes to the doorway and licks his hand. Reilly loves people – maybe a little too much. The only reason he's ever with me is because I have his favorite toy mouse being held in my closet (like I'd ever get it out in the first place). I bet if Reilly put his mind to it, he could be a walking cat who completely understands English. I know. I have crazy ideas.

"Jeremy! How's my favorite nephew?"

As always, my three cousins turn their heads towards Derick and look at him with these sad eyes. Their eyes are so sad-looking; I bet they could make YOU cry. They slowly shuffle away while my uncle walks towards me with this wrapped cylinder-shaped object in his hand.

"Hey uncle Derick," I say. "Can I just have this surprise you promised me? I'm real tired and I want to sleep soon."

"Well, it's a good thing I brought this then!" he cheerfully says, and he unwraps the gift and hands to me… a cup full of a blue-green liquid. "Okay now, drink up!"

I sigh and ask why I have to do this, and he replies with a quick shrug.

"Oh, all right then," I say. "Hand it over."

I take a small sip, and instantly I taste this salty, yet fresh sensation of water. Weird, right? But, it's so delicious that I decide to chug the rest of it. All of a sudden, it feels like all my energy is fading away. I feel suddenly exhausted, yet all I've been doing is standing and sitting. I tell uncle Derick that I feel tired, and then slowly make my way to my bed upstairs. Reilly, of course, follows me.

I was about to turn off the lights when I noticed a little bit of juice left. Since I had a feeling that strange liquid made me tired, I just let Reilly lick the cup clean. He then jumps onto my bed and yawns the way only a cat would yawn. I turn off the lights and lay in bed, and sleep rushes over me. The last thing I heard was a whisper. "Let the Nirnroot bring sweet dreams, Jeremy."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

**Imperial Legion Forester's POV**

"DIE!!!"

The arrow is let loose. Flying at an estimated speed of 70 mph, the arrow pierces its target. The creature is thrown another few feet due to the power of the arrow. It lands with a thump.

"That marks the third deer of the day," I say, and I harvest the venison from the corpse of the deer. Looking at the position of the sun, I can tell I should be heading back to Bruma soon, but looking back at my inventory, I can tell that the guards won't be pleased.

I'm walking along the orange road when, to my left, I see the tail of a deer in the bushes. Knowing that Applewatch is farther past the deer, I had better kill it quickly before it tramples onto the Applewatch farmland. Perennia Draconis would be very displeased to know her crops were ruined by a deer.

I take out my bow and, with careful precision, aim at what I think would be the head of the deer. Then, all of a sudden, the deer raises its head and takes off. "Great," I mutter to myself, when I notice what had scared the deer. A mountain lion was sitting on a rock watching me!

**Jeremy's POV**

My sense of reality slowly washes over me as I wake up to a sunset and clear skies. Wait, how can I see the sky if I'm lying in my room? Then I realize that I'm not in my room at all. I'm in a small grassy field with snow all around me!

How could this be? I don't remember travelling to any snowy landscape! Sure, I may live in a small town in New York, but it hadn't snowed yet! Plus, there was no sign of civilization around me!

That's when I decide to study the landscape to find out where I was. But before I could get any information of my whereabouts, I see a cat beside me. No, not a cat, but really a guy with mud-brown fur and a tail and a muzzle with whiskers! I may have had no idea where I was, but I can safely say that this place is just plain crazy.

That's when the cat-dude wakes up and glances over in my direction.

"Hello, Jeremy," he says. "How's the early morning treating you?"

I swear I would've fainted right then and there if I hadn't heard a scream close by. It sounded like a scream of pain, but I heard teeth snap and the crash of metal and another object.

"What was that? And where are we, Jeremy?" the cat-dude said. I would've knocked that thing out if I hadn't thought that this furry man seemed strangely familiar. Plus, he knew my name. How weird was that? But I had no time to deal with this two-legged cat, for the screams nearby were getting louder, and sounding like a small skirmish between man and beast. I decided I had better see what was happening. I started sneaking towards the source of the battle. With every step, I heard another random sound, and I stopped in my tracks when I heard the tearing of flesh and an animal cry with pain.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

**Imperial Legion Forester's POV**

I slashed my silver longsword right into the mountain lions shoulder. The animal growled with pain and fell. I prepared myself for another attack, but the savage beast lay there, dead.

From the creature I was able to get a lion pelt. What a story this would make to the other foresters! But, I lost my game. The deer was long gone, and the tracks were headed for Applewatch. It looks like the deer will have a feast tonight. Perennia will be very mad, but maybe she will catch that deer and get a little bit of venison for dinner. Or morning, rather. It depends on when the deer gets to Applewatch.

Then, it came. I heard the sound of a twig snapping. From the sound, I could tell that the twig was divided into at least 3 pieces. At least I knew it wasn't anything like a mountain lion or a timber wolf. That's when I saw it. The tail of a khajiit was sticking out from behind a rock.

"Alright, come on out," I said. "I know you're there. I can see your tail."

I saw a young imperial step out first. He had rare clothing; nothing like I've ever seen before. Then the khajiit came out, wearing nothing at all!

"Khajiit! Put this on!" I said, and I tossed him a pair of breeches I had in my inventory. The khajiit quickly put it on, and now looked like any regular khajiit.

Then, the imperial spoke up. "Khajiit? What's a khajiit?"

"That," I said, while pointing, "is a khajiit. What are your names? I need to take you up to Captain Burd for spying on a forester!"

**Jeremy's POV**

My first thought was that this guy was crazy, whoever he was. I mean, he has a name for walking cats! He acts like he's seen them before! And now he's accusing us of spying! I HAD to speak up.

"Forester, I can assure you that we were not spying on you. I don't even KNOW you! I don't know this place, either! Where am I? What is this place? I want to go home!"

He sighed. He had something to say, and it was important. Question is: what does he want to say?

"I'll let you off the hook for now. It's obvious you're diseased. Have you been fighting rats? They've been known to give you witless pox. That disease really damages your intelligence, you know."

I must be dreaming. Yeah, that's it! I'm dreaming! If I get hurt in a dream, I'll wake up! So what did I do? I punched myself in the head as hard as I could, and I was instantly knocked out.

* * *

I woke up when I heard my name.

"Jeremy! Jeremy, wake up! The forester has been gone for hours, and the moon is shining! Get up!"

I slowly got to my feet. This khajiit was crazy, and he knew my name. How is that even possible? I'm in a place I've never been to before, so I've never even met the inhabitants of this place. Also, the khajiit seemed very familiar. It was time to ask questions.

"Ok, khajiit," I said. "Who are you, and how do you know my name?"

The khajiit had a shocked look on his face, and his lower muzzle dropped (kind of like how humans drop their jaws). Then the khajiit answered my question, and what I heard nearly made me faint.

"I'm Reilly. We lived together in your house, only I was smaller."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**Jeremy's POV**

"YOU are Reilly?" I said. I was still pretty shocked about this whole Reilly thing.

"Of course I am! How else would I have known your name? Why do you think I have mud-brown fur with small black patches here and there?"

Well, that explains a lot. No wonder he seemed familiar to me. Anyways, after that discussion, Reilly explained to me everything the forester told him before he left. Apparently, we should look for this big road just south of our position. The forester seemed to call it "the Orange Road". He said to follow this road west to Bruma, which he called a "city". It sounds more like one of those places where you can buy brooms. Yeah, I know I'm bad at puns.

After we reach Bruma, Reilly said the forester told us to rest at Olav's Tap and Tack. In the morning, the forester recommended that we find any jobs that need to be done. We could then make a living for ourselves.

Reilly handed me a pitiful dagger. It looked to be made of iron, and it was very rusty. How would this protect me? What if a bear charges out of nowhere? Ok, now that's a lie, because in a place as strange as this, there wouldn't be bears. But there were some deer nearby, so maybe there WERE bears.

Reilly and I found the Orange Road and started heading east (or, at least we thought it was east). Now I had a chance to study the landscape. The road was sort of rocky, with few trees and many snow-covered rocks. Everywhere you looked there was a little snow. It was freezing cold, and I had nothing to protect me from the cold. I could've died from the cold, but running was enough to keep me alive.

We had ran enough to keep us warm for a bit, so Reilly and I started walking. I now had a chance to study the plant life. Every once in a while, we'd pass a mushroom. The mushroom was light gray and about the size of a mushroom you'd see in your backyard in summer. The cap of the mushroom actually looked like a cloud in a way. A tiny, squish-able cloud.

Reilly stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes were filled with fear. I looked ahead to see what scared him so much when, right in front of us, was the largest rat we have ever seen in our lives. The worst thing about this rat was that you could see the hate in its beady little eyes. That rat wanted to kill, and we were the victims.

Without thinking, I unsheathed that rusty iron dagger Reilly got me. I don't care how scared I was, I wasn't going to let this oversized vermin get the better of me. I slashed my dagger at the rat and hit it, but the rat didn't even flinch. I knew it meant business. Then the rat pounced. It aimed for my chest, but I put up my dagger and deflected the attack. The rat fell upside-down, but quickly got back to its feet. Its eyes were blazing with anger.

I got a couple of slashes to the rat, and it flinched once. The little vermin squealed with pain, but its eyes still had hate. It pounced again, this time aiming for my leg. Before I knew it, the rat got a hold of my leg and bit down really hard. Now I was the one who squealed with pain. I accidentally dropped my dagger during the squeal. I looked around for it, only to find it behind the rat. My only weapon was my fists, and I knew I'd lose.

That's when it happened. The rat prepared for another attack, but before it jumped, a fireball struck the rat. The rat burst into flames, and when the flames were gone, the rat was dead. It was roasted alive. I looked over to Reilly. His eyes were wide, and he was staring at his hand. Right then and there, I knew that Reilly had just done the impossible. He casted a fireball spell to kill the rat.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**Jeremy's POV**

"How did you do that?" I asked. It was pretty amazing to know my cat-friend could shoot fire from his hands.

"I don't know! I felt energy rising to my hand, and it started getting hot. So I stood up and headed towards the rat, and I flicked my hand the way you'd throw those plastic discs. Next thing I knew, fire flew out of my fingertips!"

It sounded so strange. Wherever I am, it's a pretty weird place holding powers not possible in real life. Or maybe this WAS real life. This whole place may be strange, but I know it's real. Otherwise, how could I not have "woken up" when I punched myself?

I went over to the rat. I wanted a winning glare at my old foe. Then I noticed something strange. The rat had no burn marks on it! I saw it get scorched, so there should be burn marks, right? Wrong. This made this place so much weirder than before.

That's when I noticed the bit of warmth. The sun was finally rising. I could see the mountains in the distance past woodlands. There were more trees west of our position, so maybe we could expect trees farther ahead.

Reilly and I started walking again. There were more of those cloud-like mushrooms. This time I noticed a small black spot on them. It still looked like a cloud, though. I decided to grab a piece of these mushrooms. I went to about 20 of those mushrooms and grabbed a good chunk. I had a feeling they would come in handy.

After what I thought was the 22nd mushroom, a shadowy figure appeared on the road ahead of us. Reilly and I took cover behind a bush and a rock. After what seemed like forever, I heard a rhythmic clamp of hooves. I looked through the leaves of the bush to see a man in a tin suit riding a horse. Some of his armor was the same as the forester's armor. After a little more waiting, the man was finally out of sight. He was long gone, headed in the direction we had come from.

Reilly and I got back on the road. We knew we couldn't keep up with this travel for another hour. We decided to push our limits by running a little bit more. Then, I saw it. There was a wall a good distance ahead of us. It looked to be a castle wall, really. After a little more running, we were at the base of the wall. To the right, I saw two guys in armor. Both of them had a yellow cuirass and a yellow shield. Maybe I could ask them where I was. I walked up to them casually.

"Welcome to Bruma, citizen!" the first guard said. Well, that answers my question. At least we reached our destination (finally). Then both of them opened up a gate I had not noticed before. It was huge! And inside the walls was a town. Log cabins were everywhere, and hay lined up some of the roofs. Immediately to my left I saw a cabin with a hanging sign. It read "Olav's Tap and Tack."

I walked inside and what was the first thing I saw? Right in front of me, with red eyes, was a purple (or gray or dark blue, it was really hard to tell) skinned humanoid.

"Back off before I rip your organs out!" Oh yeah, and he had a really bad temper.

Then he stormed out the door. Then Reilly finally came inside. He had a shocked look on his face. I knew that the weird dude threatened him, too. Then I noticed another guy. At least he didn't look like an alien.

"Welcome! I'm Olav, owner of Olav's Tap and Tack." I wasn't expecting that. "What may I do for you?" he asked. Obviously, this guy didn't seem in any way ticked about that other guy's temper.

"How can you stand that guy's bad temper?" I asked.

"Who? The dark elf, Alval Uvani? He ALWAYS has a bad temper! What a shame, too. I bet if he was even a bit nicer, he'd make a fortune offering Destruction training."

"You need to be trained on how to destroy stuff?"

Olav laughed. "No! Destruction magic is the use of magicka to harm others! You can cast all types of spells in the Destruction college, such as fire spells, frost spells, and shock spells."

Oh. I get it now. That's why Reilly was able to fire a spell at the rat. He used his own magical energies from within to create fire. Then Olav continued explaining.

"Like all other spells, Destruction magic requires the use of magicka. When you use a spell, you drain your supply of magicka. You have to be careful you don't run out. Though, nothing bad really happens. You just can't cast spells until you regenerate your magicka."

I figured there was a catch to spells.

"Look at me, ranting on about stuff you already know! Anyways, is there any business I can offer you?"

"Yes, sir!" I replied. "My friend Reilly and I-"

"Reilly is an odd name for a khajiit." Olav interrupted.

"Yes, well, anyways. We found these mushrooms on the way here. I have a few samples I'd like to sell."

"Oh, of course! Let me look at them!"

I pulled out the cloud-like mushrooms. He studied them with a merchant's eye.

"Looks like you've got quite a big amount of clouded funnel cap mushrooms," he said. "I'll give you 10 gold for each mushroom."

I accepted the transaction, and I asked for a room to sleep in. He said he had one available, so there would be no room for Reilly. Apparently, Olav doesn't remember any other inn here in Bruma. Great. Now where are we going to sleep?

Then Olav remembered the Jerall View Inn, located next to Novaroma. Whatever this world is, it has weird names. Olav also reminded me that, despite its name, you can't view the Jerall Mountains from the inn, since it faces _away _from the mountains. I thanked him and left.

It was fairly easy to find the inn Olav told me about. It was on the second row of houses, next to Novaroma, like he said.

When we entered, Reilly and I were greeted by Hafid Hollowleg. I didn't even bother asking him if he had a hollow leg. Instead, I asked him for a room.

"Of course I have a room for rent. It's 25 gold a night. Also, since there are two of you, I'll have to double the fee. 50 gold each night. How does that sound?"

It sounded like a rip-off. At Olav's, the rate was 10 gold a night. But, seeing as I had no other choice, I reluctantly agreed. He gave us two keys. One was for my room, and the other was for Reilly's room.

We were soundly asleep by sun-high, which was a weird time to sleep, but we traveled a long way, and we had woken up at sunset the previous day. When we woke up, there was little light in the sky. There was enough light, however, that I could look around. I got out of the bed, and noticed red dots on my skin. They were raised bumps, and I knew what it was. The forester had mentioned it, and it tied in with the rat.

I had contracted witless pox.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**Reilly's POV**

I woke up to a small push on my shoulder. Jeremy was in my room. I could tell, since he's the only other one with my key.

I stretched my arms out and let out a huge yawn. I got up, and saw Jeremy. All over him were these bumps. I was guessing that a swarm of mosquitoes got him, but then my mind flashed to the forester. That forester had mentioned a "pox" of some sort. My thoughts were confirmed when Jeremy said, "I contracted witless pox. We need to go. NOW."

The forester said something about witless pox lowering your intelligence levels, yet Jeremy seemed as smart as ever. I had thought too soon, because Jeremy walked into the part of the wall next to the door, instead of through the door itself. He tried yet again to walk through the door, but instead walked into the wall on the other side of the door. I then pushed him out the door and told him to follow me.

We went to the main room of the Jerall View Inn, and who did we find? The Hollowleg guy was still there, waiting for someone to walk through that door and demand a room. I walked up to him.

"Excuse me, sir. But, do you know how my friend here can be cured?" I said. "He contracted witless pox a while ago."

"Well, you could always go to the chapel," he replied. "The imperials say that if you have enough faith in the Nine Divines and you aren't known for criminal deeds, then the gods will cure you. It's imperial nonsense to me, really."

Well that made little sense. I have no idea what this "Nine Divines" stuff was all about. I also didn't know what an Imperial was. But I thanked him anyways and led Jeremy to the chapel. He almost tripped on the stairs outside the chapel. I walked inside and found benches lined up. They were facing an altar. Beside the altar was a woman. I walked up to her.

"Welcome, khajiit, to the Great Chapel of Talos. I'm Isa Raman, the priestess here. What may I do for you?" Her accent didn't sound like the others around here. I was guessing she wasn't from here.

"Hello, my friend Jeremy has contracted witless pox, and I was hoping that the chapel would provide a cure of some sort. Is there one available?"

Isa looked towards the altar in the center. "There is only one way that a chapel could offer a cure," she said. "At the Altar of the Nine, your friend must pray to the Nine Divines and ask for a cure. If he has enough faith, and his deeds are noble, then the gods will banish his sickness and restore his health."

I was impressed. Was it really that easy? "Thank you, priestess," I said, and I walked to Jeremy. I told him what the priestess had told me. He must pray at the altar and ask the gods to cure him. I think he understood, but when he walked towards the altar, he turned around and looked at me with a questioning look.

"Go on, Jeremy," I said. If he continued acting like this, I wouldn't be sure if he knew left from right.

Jeremy got onto his knees and put his head down with his hands together. I could hear him mumbling, but I couldn't make out the words. Then, out of nowhere, a blue light started from his feet. It made its way up while circling Jeremy. That's when I noticed the second blue light. It was as if they were dancing in perfect harmony, except light can't dance. They also had smaller blue lights following them. When the blue light things were above his head, they faded away. Jeremy also lost all of his red bumps. What had happened?

**Jeremy's POV**

After those blue spherical lights had disappeared, I looked at my skin. The red bumps were gone. I didn't feel stupid anymore. It was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced in my life. Both the sickness and the cure, I mean. Then the lady that Reilly was talking to earlier walked up to me.

"Congratulations!" she said. "Through faith, you have been cured! Live by your blessing, so that any afflictions your body receives in the future may be healed by the Nine Divines!"

What she said did make sense. I mean, if the "Nine Divines" could cure me so easily, then I bet that they could heal any of my injuries too. Question is what is the Nine Divines? It's pretty obvious that it's some sort of religion. But to think that the Nine Divines have power they can grant to those they deem worthy! Now THAT is pretty amazing! I could get used to this place.

Anyways, Reilly and I left the chapel. I told Reilly to go to the Jerall View Inn and get some rest. It was almost night-fall, and we might have to leave soon. We needed money, and mushrooms seem to get me a fair amount of gold. I know I can't make a living on mushrooms alone, though.

Of course, I did have 170 of those coins right in my pockets. So when Reilly went back to the inn, I went to Hammer and Axe. From the name of the place, I was betting they sold armor and weapons.

Buying and selling is much different than home. For instance, the person who sells you the goods is also the owner of the whole store. There are no stores in other cities that are a unit of an original store. Everyone's store is their own, and they actually LIVE in their store too. Pretty weird, huh?

Anyways, guess what I found for sale at Hammer and Axe? That's right: a full set of fur armor! It was perfect! It had great protection, it seemed, against both rat claws AND the cold! Wow, I was going crazy over pieces of deer fur reinforced to act like armor. I have to see a therapist soon.

I picked out a full set of fur armor, when I noticed who I was buying the armor from. His name was Fjotreid, who had the accent similar to most men around here. I was guessing it was a regional thing. Anyways, according to him, I only had enough to buy one full set of fur armor. Of course, he was willing to sell me two of each of these items: cuirasses, greaves, and boots. It would keep me and Reilly warm enough, so I bought them. I looked at my change in despair.

All I had left was 25 gold coins.

**Reilly's POV**

Note to self: NEVER let Jeremy handle the money again.

25 gold coins? It would only be enough to keep only _one _of us in a room at the Jerall View Inn for another night! He showed me what he had gotten. I shook my head when I saw him pull out deer fur.

"It's armor! It protects us from the cold AND animals!" he explained.

"That is very awesome," I said sarcastically. How did he reply?

"Bad Reilly! GO sit in the corner!" he yelled.

I couldn't believe this. HE WAS TREATING ME LIKE A FREAKING DOG!

"I'm a cat thank you very much," I began, "and I don't like you treating me like a dog!" I ended that sentence with a fierce growl that made Jeremy drop all the fur armor he had bought. But Jeremy wouldn't forgive me so easily.

"I _wouldn't _treat you like a dog, if you weren't a spoiled housecat!" That had done it. That hit me right in the head. I couldn't take any more of this.

"If you're going to be like this then fine," I growled. "I will take this gold and head somewhere else in this freaking world! I don't care where, but any place without you is as great as heaven as far as I care!" With that I grabbed the coins and the fur armor Jeremy got me, and marched out of the Jerall View Inn. I was headed out of Bruma, and I didn't have a sense of regret as I walked out the gate leading out of Bruma


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**Jeremy's POV**

It was the shortest, yet the most nerve-wrecking argument I had ever been in.

And I had also lost the only friend I had in this freaking place.

I knew I screwed up, but I still had anger inside me. He deserved to be treated like a dog! AND he stole one of the partial sets of fur armor! He owed me for that. He really did.

But, whatever. I don't need Reilly. He's just a walking housecat who can shoot fire from his fingertips. I bet there are others like that.

Anyways, after about 10 minutes after the show of me and Reilly arguing, I decided to look around town. I was pretty calm now, so maybe I could find something helpful. That's when I saw the eye.

Right there, hanging in front of me, was a sign with an eye on it. Around the eye were the words "Mages Guild." Was it just a group of people who knew how to shoot fire from their pitiful fingers? Or did they have a stronger connection to "magic"? The only way to find out was to walk inside and start asking questions. So I opened the door…

To find a raging fire burning inside. A fallen bookshelf was blocking the way on the left side, with a small fire burning on it. To the right, there was a clear area. I could see a railing, and a staircase leading down. Then I noticed the bones all over the ground. Were people burned alive? Shouldn't there be ashes instead of bones? That's when I saw a khajiit running up the stairs to the right. At first I thought it was Reilly, but the fur wasn't mud-brown. It was actually a light brown. His face was panic-stricken, and he moved unsteadily. He stopped when he saw me.

"Please! Don't hurt me!" he yelled. Then he seemed to get a good enough glimpse of me, because he calmed down a little bit.

"Oh, thank the Divines you're not a necromancer," he said, while slightly panting between each word.

"Necromancer?" I asked. "What's that?"

"Necromancers," he replied, "are users of the dark arts. They can transform any humanoid into Worm Thralls, or zombies. They bind our souls into what we call 'Black Soul Gems'. They also are great users of conjuration. They attacked the guild hall here, not too long ago."

Well that explains the fire, but it doesn't explain the bones.

"Well," I began, "what's with all the bones here? It couldn't have been THAT long since their attack."

The khajiit looked at me, wide-eyed. "Don't you know," he explained, "the bones of a skeleton when you see one? Skeletons are undead. They are powerful undead creatures who know how to use all types of weapons. Their strength divides them into three classes: the regular skeleton, skeleton champions, and skeleton heroes."

Well that was scary. First, there turns out to be zombies. Now, there are walking piles of bones that can kill? Not only was this place weird, but it was frightening, too. What more is there? Green gorillas that run super-fast and can punch and kick really fast? Oh, wait. Those are trolls. Well, maybe there are trolls here! How am I supposed to find out?

Anyways, it turns out the khajiit's name is J'Skar. He was downstairs when the attack started, and he apparently casted an invisibility spell by the help of his friend Volanaro (more weird names), who is now dead, along with everyone else at the guild hall. J'Skar is the only survivor.

"How is this place empty?" I asked. "Shouldn't there be a necromancer looking for survivors?"

"Indeed there was," he replied. "But she's dead. The Hero of Kvatch and has come and saved me! He should be behind me, walking the way I ran to get here."

That's when I saw him. From behind J'Skar came the Hero of Kvatch (whatever that was). He was wearing this green armor, and it was covering him from head to toe, literally.

"J'Skar, who is this," he asked, "and what is he doing here?"

"This is one of the new Bruma citizens, I'm guessing," J'Skar replied. "Maybe he's a traveler. I don't know."

That's when the Hero of Kvatch started glaring at me, his face showing anger. "This must be one of those Mythic Dawn guys!" he yelled. "Get back, J'Skar!" Then he pulled out his green sword (yeah, the sword and armor are made of the same material) and lunged at me.

**Reilly's POV**

When I had left Bruma, one of the guards gave me a map of the surrounding areas. Looking at the map, I saw that it covered all the area between what seems to be the Jerall and Valus Mountains all the way to the body of water at the southern end of the Blackwood region. Jeremy was right. This place did have weird names.

Jeremy. The sound of his name brings rage into my blood and hatred into my eyes. It was the shortest argument (and the only one) we've gotten into, yet it was the one argument that could ever separate us. How we came to this, I do not know. But Jeremy can't follow me out here. This is the wilderness, which is full of dangers that even Jeremy couldn't conquer. Then again, he couldn't beat a rat. I had to save his behind from that oversized vermin.

Anyways, I was halfway to Chorrol, according to the map. The snow had disappeared pretty quickly. I only walked for about an hour when the amount of snow lessened. It was still cold though. Also, I started seeing these thin bushes with violet-colored flowers at the end of the stems. I guess you would call them a flower patch or something like that.

That's when he came. I was walking along the Orange Road, studying my surroundings, when a khajiit came out from behind a rock.

"Hand over your money or die," he said. "If you want to move along safely, then you must give me 100 gold."

"I only have 25 gold though," I replied.

He pulled a huge axe from behind his back. "Well then," he began, "if you won't cough up the money, then I'll just have to kill you, and loot the money from your dead corpse myself!" Then he brought his axe behind him, and then got all of his energy to swing it back in front of him, while aiming at my head.

**Jeremy's POV**

I quickly dodged the swing of the sword that the Hero of Kvatch held. Mythic Dawn? I had to ask questions later. Right now it was time… to flee.

I took off. I ran out the door and started running through patrols of guards and a few citizens. That's when I felt the tip of his green sword cut my back. It hardly hurt, because it was only the tip that cut me, but soon, he would swing and I would be dead. He sure was a fast runner.

I was faster.

Well, if you consider using shortcuts to get farther ahead of your opponent, then yeah, I was faster. In this state of fear, I had split-second thinking. To my left was a rock. From that rock I could jump onto the roof of one of the houses. From that roof I could jump onto the house next to it, and so on, until there was the gap where the city gate was. From there, I would jump down and take off, heading up to the only place I haven't been to in the city. I was going to head to the castle of Bruma, and there, the Countess would stop this so-called "hero" from killing me (hearing people talk around town let me know about the Countess).

I had thought all that in less than a second. No wonder they call it split-second thinking.

I did exactly what I had planned; only smoother that I thought it would be. I thought I would have a little difficulty jumping roof-to-roof, but it was surprisingly easy. When I had jumped off the final roof and back onto the ground, I looked left and I couldn't see the so-called "hero". I knew what he was doing. He was going to cut me off ahead. He was smart, yet he wasn't expecting me to change my plans. I walked towards the gate, because I knew the guard would offer me a map. So when I got the map, and the gates had opened, I ran as fast as a rocket, hearing only the screams of the Hero of Kvatch telling me to come back.

**Reilly's POV**

I quickly took a step back. The axe had missed me by a fraction of an inch. I needed to think out the situation, and quickly. If I didn't I'd be chopped liver. Literally.

Ok, so around me were trees, trees, and more trees. There were a few rocks, and the landscape was full of hills. In fact, the path I was on now is on a hill. There's another hill that leads higher, which would be perfect for a sniper (just because I'm a cat doesn't mean I don't watch my share of TV). Of course, if I wanted to lose the bandit, I would want to waste the least amount of energy as possible. So what did I do?

I jumped over the wooden fence on the side of the road, and I slid down the hill, dodging rocks and small bushes. The khajiit hadn't followed. When I looked up, I saw him put away his axe and start walking away, muttering to himself and shaking his head along the way.

I knew I was lucky to survive the encounter with that hostile khajiit, but would my luck run out one day?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**Reilly's POV**

After about an hour of waiting, I made my way back up to the Orange Road. The bandit seemed to be gone, but if he was anywhere nearby, I would have to hurry so he won't see me again.

I started running towards Chorrol. I didn't want to run too fast because if I did then I would be too tired to defend myself. But, I ended up tiring myself out anyways. I had to walk so I could get back my energy.

Now I could study my surroundings. There were many hills and rocks around the roads, and there was no snow around. In fact, it was warmer here, but it was still cold. Sometimes I would find a flower growing near a rock. This flower seemed to have a magenta top and a stem and leaves like any other plant. They looked very interesting, so I grabbed the flower, shook the seeds out of the flower, and collected them. Instinct had told me to do that.

After about 30 minutes of collecting, I decided to try the seeds myself. So I popped a few seeds into my mouth and chewed. When I had finished digesting, I started walking again.

That's when I noticed that it was lighter out here, when it should be getting darker. This light was weird, too. It gave off a green glow, and it was centered on _me_. It was very weird. Then the light disappeared. What was that?

I had a feeling that the seeds created this mysterious green light, so I tried some more. Sure enough, a green glow was centered on me yet again. Then, as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. These seeds were weird. Maybe I could sell them for a profit, and maybe-

I didn't have time to complete that thought, for an earthquake had struck. I quickly ran to a rock and took cover behind it. Then I noticed that the rock itself was rising from the ground! I took cover at another rock, only to find that rock rising up too. What was this, an apocalyptic event of sorts?

Then I noticed that these two rocks were actually one joined rock. It was like an arch was rising out of the ground! And in between the legs of this arch, there was a stationary fire. This structure rose to at least 10 times my height.

The earthquake stopped, and the rock-structure had stopped rising. But the party was not over. Creatures started pouring out of the fire. There were large, demonic lizards that looked like they would have a nasty bite. There were walking ice cubes and walking fires that shot cold and heat from their hands, respectively. There was another creature that was made out of spinning rocks! You could tell it had an electrical charge on itself. Last but not least, there were humanoids in strange reddish armor, yielding weapons of the same material. Other humanoids had a robe on, and they held a staff. It all made sense now. This wasn't just some sort of raiding party or small unplanned skirmish.

The arches were gates from hell, and the creatures that walked out of those gates wanted nothing more than to kill everyone and everything in their way.

**Jeremy's POV**

Behind me, the "hero" was calling to me. He was telling me to stop running, that it was a misunderstanding. I wasn't an idiot, but to be sure, I looked back while I was running. The guy had his sword sheathed, and was running to me at a much faster speed than before. Before I knew it, he grabbed my arms and kept me from running farther.

"Hold up," he said with a persuasive voice. I stopped my failing efforts of squirming free and running away again. "I'm sorry about earlier. I thought you were a Mythic Dawn member. Thank the Divines you're not."

"How could you tell?" I asked. Pretty strange how he figured it out so fast.

"Well, because," he started, "you didn't summon any daedric armor or weapons. Plus, Mythic Dawn members ALWAYS retaliate. In fact, they start the attack in the first place!"

Oh, so the Mythic Dawn is a fighting force?

"The Mythic Dawn has some sort of plan," the hero explained, "which involves destroying Tamriel and letting Mehrunes Dagon walk the destroyed land. I'm trying to stop them, by recovering the Amulet of Kings for the lost heir, Martin. I've been sent by Jauffree to eliminate spies hiding out in Bruma."

Well so much for the safety of the city. But there was one question that still remained.

"If you don't mind me asking," I started, "what's your name?"

He suddenly got a sad look in his eyes. It was obvious that he was searching his memory. After a long while, he sighed. Then he said, "I don't have a name. I remain nameless, though I have acquired many titles over the months."

Oh, how sad. He seems destined to save this world from evil, yet he doesn't have a name. Then I realized that he actually said MONTHS! Does this world use the same names of days as home?

"What's today's date?" I asked.

"Today is the 27th day of Last Seed, in the 434th year of the 3rd era."

Well, that's official. This place is the weirdest in the world. Or maybe this is a different world. It actually could be, when you think about it.

"You are a strange man," the nameless guy replied. "Maybe you can pick out a name for me? Refer to me as whatever you will, Imperial."

That was one thing I did NOT want to be asked. Pick out a name? Well, it was worth a shot, I guess.

I thought about everyone I had ever known. There were my elementary school friends, Carlton and Julio, and there's my lifelong crush Remy. My parents were Christie and Rick. There was uncle Derick who brought me here in the first place. But, none of those names sounded right. What would I name this guy?

Then it came to me. An adventurous name was what I need. Something catchy, something exciting and something rare. Something like, Clavier?

"Until I can think of anything better, I will refer to you as Clavier," I said, "though I'll probably just call you Clavy, since it's shorter." His eyes started glowing with happiness, and a smile started forming.

"Thank you, strange man," he said. "Even though it sounds like a vampire's name, i can accept it! By the way, what should I call you?"

"My name's Jeremy Hendrickson," I replied. It felt good to say a normal name again, especially my name.

"Ah, what a strange name," he said. So much for that normal-name thought. "But ok, I shall call you Jeremy. Now I must hurry to Jearl's house. I've found out that she has returned from a trip, and I must question her about spies around here. I'll meet you again at…"

"The Jerall View Inn," I said. "I'm staying in a room there."

"The Jerall View Inn it is!" he said. Clavier then left with a quick goodbye, and I last saw him going behind the chapel. I wonder why he metioned vampires earlier. All i did was give him a simple name, and he mention vampires. Very weird. Then I saw J'Skar coming up to me. He still had fright in his eyes, but he walked much less clumsily now.

"About time you came back," he said. "I knew you weren't a Mythic Dawn agent."

"How did YOU know?" I asked.

"Because, Jearl dropped her orders, and I retrieved them," he explained. "You aren't mentioned in the orders at all, but a Great Gate is going to open near Bruma, and it will destroy us all!"

**Reilly's POV**

The humanoids that had come out of that arch-thing led the creatures away from the gate. The electrically-charged pile of spinning rocks followed last. It was like an army had emerged from the ground and started its advance on… what? What did this group of monsters want to control? Why had they come?

I waited until most of the monster-army was out of sight before I moved. They never noticed me, but I still stayed crouched down. While lightly putting my feet one in front of the other, I was able to make it a fair distance away before I took off running. If they had noticed me, I didn't see any of them coming. Then I realized I was AWAY from the Orange Road. I had wandered too far away from the path. How was I supposed to get to Chorrol now?

**A/N: The last two paragraphs (Reilly's POV) was meant to be this short. I had to add something, and it didn't fit in earlier, so i threw it in at the end. Also, the chapters will start to take a while now. They may take as long as a few weeks, but I'll get them done so don't worry (for those who follow my story if there's anyone who does).**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

**Jeremy's POV**

"Wait," I said. "What's a great gate? The only gate I've heard about is the city gate right behind me." I turned and pointed to show him what I meant.

"He's right," J'Skar said.

"Who's right?"

"The Hero of Kvatch is. He said you were a strange man. I forgot what you said his name was. Cleaver? Caver?"

"Clavier," I reminded him. "Wait. Were you eavesdropping on our conversation? I didn't even see you nearby!"

"That's because I'm a khajiit."

"What does being a khajiit have to do with anything?"

"I'll explain to you later. Right now we need to worry about the Great Gate. If we don't show Clavier these orders, Bruma WILL be destroyed."

THAT was a thought that I didn't want crawling in my head. An entire city destroyed? How could that be possible?

"Surely the guards here can stop this Great Gate?" I asked.

"Maybe," he replied, "but if they don't close it fast enough, then the Siege Crawler will emerge from the gate, and all hope will be lost."

"I'm sorry, I don't get it," I said. "What's a siege crawler? What's a Great Gate? None of this is making any sense!"

Then we both saw Clavier heading back this way.

"Sorry," J'Skar said, "but you'll have to wait for an explanation." Then he turned and walked to Clavier. What was going on here? Was I placed into a soon-to-be apocalyptic place?

I didn't want to stick around and find out, so I walked out of Bruma. I wanted more mushrooms to sell for a decent profit. I knew I'd be hungry soon, so I would need money for food. I pulled out my map and I found a path that headed north but ended suddenly. I bet that I could walk that path and be back at Bruma before nightfall. And there would be mushrooms!

I started out to the intersection ahead. I took a left and started heading north. Now I had another chance to study my surroundings.

It was still snowy here (of course), and there were quite a few rocks here and there. To the right of me was the slope of a mountain, so I guessed that that was what started the Jerall Mountain Range that the Jerall View Inn was named after. I could not imagine myself scaling that mountain. Maybe there was an unmarked path that led up the mountain?

Around on the ground were those cloud-like mushrooms. What were they called? Clouded Funnel Caps? It was something like that, but if it got me a decent profit I didn't really care.

That's when I heard it. The howl of a wolf that was carried on the wind to me. I had learned that you could tell how a wolf feels by how its howl sounds. Usually the howls were more sad-sounding, but this one sounded more like this particular wolf had an attack on its mind. I did a quick 360 around me, but before I even turned halfway, I saw a wolf on a rock, snarling its teeth at me.

As suddenly as I saw it, the wolf jumped off the rock and sprinted towards me, its mind full of hunger and killing.

**Reilly's POV**

If you're lost in the wild with an army of monsters within screaming distance and unknown creatures lurking around almost every tree, what would you do? I know what I would do. I'd scream for my mom in a high-pitched squeal, scaring off every animal from here to Chorrol!

And to think that that was what I had actually done.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. I sounded like I was screaming like a scratchy-voiced little girl, but I didn't care. It was either be humiliated by any people who just so happened to be out here, or be dead. I'd prefer not to be dead.

After about 10 seconds of continuous screaming, I stopped and took deep breaths. After I started breathing normally again, I realized that there were birds nearby. Did I attract animals to me, rather than scare them away?

My answer came to me when all of the birds suddenly took off at around the same time. Then, behind me, I heard a low growl. I quickly and silently hid behind of a bush in total fear.

After a few moments, I heard the same menacing growl. I took a peak around the bush to find a mountain lion perched on a rock, facing away from me. Thank God it hadn't spotted me yet.

I stood there, watching the mountain lion. All it appeared to be doing was sitting there and looking around.

Suddenly it got into a crouch. Obviously it had spotted something. It crept its way from the rock to the ground, and then shot up into the air at the same time a small bird tried to take flight.

The poor bird didn't have a chance to escape. The mountain lion had swatted the little bird with its massive paw. The bird slowly fell to ground, startled. Then the mountain lion finished it off with a swipe, and the little bird laid there, dead.

The mountain lion sat down and bent over to eat its catch of the day. This was my chance. I could sneak away and escape right now, or, if I waited, I would be the mountain lions next catch.

I slowly snuck backwards away from the lion, my eyes watching it just in case it would spot me. A few times my tail brushed a tree, but it made no sound loud enough for the mountain lion to hear.

All of a sudden, my foot came down on a rock and I stumbled backwards. I quickly grasped a nearby tree, and a few leaves stirred from bringing my foot back to a proper position. It was a miracle I had made little noise during the process. I let out a small breath.

Big mistake.

Even though the mountain lion was a bit far away, I could still clearly see it, so of course it could clearly hear me. And that small breath let out a sound loud enough for the mountain lion to look up from its meal and spin around and look at _me. _

The only thing I could think of doing was running away. So I pushed myself away from the tree and sprinted away from the mountain lion.

I never knew how rough the terrain would be. There were rocks and trees everywhere and there were many slopes here and there. I had to jump a few times over small rocks, and large rocks I had to run around.

I took a glance behind me and saw the mountain lion catching up to me. I looked ahead again and ran faster. Then I noticed the terrain was smoothing out a little bit. The mountain lion would surely catch me on smooth terrain. But there were more trees here, so maybe I could weave in between the trees to slow down the mountain lion.

I started weaving between the tress as I thought I should do, being careful to jump over the roots of the trees. At one point I saw the mountain lion dropping back a little bit. After a while longer I looked back. The mountain lion was gone.

I started slowing down, and eventually I came to a walk. Why were there mountain lions in this place? It's like this place was earth, but it isn't. To think I could be eating my cat chow right now, too.

Then I heard the familiar growl, and to the right of me, the same mountain lion I thought I had lost was running straight towards me. The animal was flanking me!

**Jeremy's POV**

I jumped out of the way as the wolf tried to snap its teeth at my leg. It slid in the wet snow, but quickly regained its balance and went for me again. I dodged its attack again, this time unsheathing my pitiful dagger. Both the wolf and I charged at each other. As it jumped, I brought my dagger forward and slashed the wolf. It staggered for a little while, leaving me room for a few more common attacks.

After the wolf regained its balance, I stabbed it hard enough for it to stagger again with blood dripping from its muzzle. The poor creature was dying, but I was in self-defense mode. I slashed and stabbed the wolf again and again, until the wolf finally dropped to the ground. I sheathed my dagger as the animal drew its final breath. Its body went limp. I had won.

When I first got to this weird world, I couldn't beat an oversized rat. But now, I had defeated a wolf. I felt proud of myself, but I also felt a little bit sad, for the wolf was only hungry and trying to get food. I decided that it would be good to put at least part of its body to good use, so I gathered as much of the wolf's pelt as I could get. The wolf wasn't hairless now, but its fur was very thin. I started heading back to Bruma, for the short skirmish wasn't as short as I thought.

Now that I knew I could defeat a wolf, I was pretty sure a rat would be no match for me. I knew now that the key was not to make the first move, and to be ready to dodge and to use the terrain to your advantage. The wolf had slid in the snow, allowing me for easier attacks, and it staggered. When the creature loses balance, then would be the best time to attack, for it can't fight back or defend itself. Now I knew the basics of fighting in this world

I made it to the intersection and it started getting dark. I, apparently, was out for longer than I had ever thought. The sun was low in the sky, but I could still feel the warmth it offered before the sun quit the day. I then remembered how Reilly had casted a spell, and I decided that it would be worth it to try to cast a spell of my own.

I stood out in the intersection, feeling the bitter cold mixed with the tiny bit of warmth the sun could give me. As I thought of fire, a burning sensation came to my finger tips. I flicked my hand, and a fireball shot out of my hand. It went away from me at a relatively fast speed. It collided with a rock, resulting in a small explosion.

I had done it. I was able to cast a spell, and I was no longer weak and defenseless. I felt as if I could handle any creature out there. Let's just hope that someday, I will be able to defeat any creature easily. This world has many threats, and I doubt I have seen all of the creatures the wilderness had to offer to me.


End file.
